Asia traded for gains in the US

BEIJING (AP) Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday after Wall Street rose as investors awaited US earnings reports and an update on economic growth.

Shanghai and Hong Kong fell while Tokyo advanced. Oil prices had changed little.

The Wall Street benchmark S&P 500 index gained 0.1% Monday after Coca-Cola Co. reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. About 170 of the largest US companies will report their results this week.

Also this week, US data is expected to show economic growth slowing after rate hikes to cool stubbornly high inflation.

As the economy cools, technology stocks will struggle to maintain high prices that have helped prop up the market, Oanda’s Edward Moya said in a report. He said stocks are at great risk from corporate earnings and a battle in Washington over raising the government debt limit.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7% to 3,250.79 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose less than 0.1% to 28,620.07. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.9% to 19,578.20.

The Kospi in Seoul fell 1.6% to 2,482.50 after South Korea reported unexpectedly strong economic growth in the first quarter, avoiding a technical recession. Korean economic activity has grown by 0.3% over the past three months, following a contraction of 0.4%.

India’s Sensex opened 0.2% at 60,175.77. Singapore and Bangkok fell. Markets in New Zealand and Australia were closed for a holiday.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose to 4,137.04 on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 33,875.40 while the Nasdaq index fell 0.3% to 12,037.20.

Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report their biggest drop in earnings since spring 2020, when the pandemic crippled the economy.

Microsoft will report figures on Tuesday and Amazon on Thursday. Microsoft was down 1.4% and Amazon was down 0.7%.

Most companies have beaten forecasts so far this earnings reporting season.

Wall Street is also waiting for the first estimate of how fast the US economy grew in the first three months of the year. Economists expect growth to slow to 1.9% year on year, down from 2.6% in the last quarter of 2022.

Higher rates have already slowed US home sales by making mortgages more expensive. Industry and other sectors of the economy have also suffered, while the labor market has remained resilient.

The Federal Reserve meets next week. Much of Wall Street expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates at least one more time before likely pausing. Many traders are betting that the Fed will have to cut rates later this year to support the economy. But Fed officials have insisted they will keep rates high at least through the end of this year.

In the energy markets, benchmark US crude gained 2 cents to $78.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 89 cents to $78.76 on Monday. Brent crude, the price base for international oil trade, added 2 cents to $82.56 a barrel in London. It rose $1.07 during the previous session to $82.73.

The dollar fell to 134.21 yen from 134.27 yen on Monday. The euro rose from $1.1046 to $1.1051.